Re: General 3.5 Core balance fix (3.5 Core, PEACH)

Originally Posted by Yitzi

But I'm not lowering the power of every class. So far I've done the casters (which are lowered), and a few overall changes (which lower them a bit); I have yet to do the fighter, the barbarian, the paladin, and the ranger, all of which get substantial boosts.

You did do the fighter. I was part of that thread. The feats you wrote didn't help at all. Don't you remember that math I used to prove that melee didn't need help hitting things? Though to be fair, that was using the Core-only inherent bonus, which you just removed, nerfing melee pretty hard.

I'm planning to provide some new feats to help boost AC. But even so, the only classes that will really rely on AC to help them survive will be fighter, paladin, and cleric (and probably druid.) Wizards and sorcerers will have to rely on their allies and/or mobility, monks will rely on mobility, barbarians will rely on their hit points and DR, and rogues, bards to some extent, and rangers will rely on their hide checks (and also, in the case of rogues, on not staying in the fight after the first hit)

Hide checks do nothing against creatures with blindsight or tremorsense. If the character's only reasonable defense is stripped, then it's not a good system. And giving options to improve AC as feats, which most characters only get 7 of, is not a good option either. (See also: Dodge)

One of the classes who will need the AC boost most, the rogue, will not be able to take it because he needs to spend 3 feats on Two-Weapon Fighting and one on Weapon Finesse.

Mobility does not help the monk when he's provoking attacks of opportunity for moving in and attacking (Especially with his low AC) Skirmishers suck against creatures with reach (AKA: Half the monsters in the MM with a CR of 7 or higher)

There are a number of decent nerfs that casters can do with a decent chance of success. Nothing battle-winning, but Shaken or Sickened are some pretty decent debuffs.

Shaken is not a "decent" debuff. A -2 penalty to all actions does not help against a creature with +30 to hit if a character's AC is 23. Same for sicken. Now, nausea and frighten, those are some decent debuffs.

A 29 instead of a 34 isn't all that much worse. And there might not be a Shock Trooper, but there will be powerful feats to replace them.

I've seen your new fighter feats. They're not "powerful".

How are all those things poorly designed? Most of them are relatively straightforward to counter, and the few exceptions I plan to make melee classes more powerful against. Not that grappling a Tarrasque will ever become a viable strategy, but against dragons it'll be quite feasible.

That's great. What I'm telling you now is that your current design has weakened melee. If you're going to change that, good. That was my intent. As it is now, most melee characters would die. Plain and simple.

The monsters face the exact same limits; they just don't tend to use the same effects as often. (That said, the condition levels change will be a relief when fighting a basilisk.)

No they don't. They get to keep their ridiculous stats, insane natural armor, and high damage output from natural weapons. The Giant put it best